Blog: Stop Wasting Space. Create Movable Aisles and Store More

About the Author

Mike Petinge is the President of Abel Womack, Inc. and has been with the company for more than 25 years.

June 6, 2016 –

While reorganizing my garage for the spring and summer months, I was amazed at how much empty space is needed to be able to get to the things that you are storing. It reminded me of one of our product offerings, mobile racking. It’s been awhile since we spoke about mobile racking, what many once considered one of the greatest revolutionary storage approaches in the 21st century. It is still very much an active product offering, but its pace of acceptance has slowed down since its introduction several years ago.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with a mobile racking system, picture your doctor’s office. They typically have several files lined up that are on tracks on the floor. When a doctor or receptionist needs a file, they simply move the hand wheel at the end of the shelving to create an aisle and access the folder. It basically removes all but one aisle for access. This type of storage is common and popular in libraries, offices, universities, and military organizations.

In a warehouse or manufacturing space, aisles are typically 8-12 feet wide, and there is one aisle required to access every two rows of rack pick faces. That is a lot of wasted space. Mobile racking allows the aisles to be minimized (as few as just one depending on activity levels) yet provides complete selectivity. It is a great opportunity to store more product in the same footprint or free up valuable manufacturing space for revenue-generating machinery.

When the economy went south, getting additional space was the most cost effective thing to do, even if you rolled in the cost of additional personnel and increasing transportation dollars. There was lots of space to go around and the cost was very low, so mobile racking took a back seat.

Cool Storage Options for the Cold ChainNow that the economy is rebounding and the number of empty warehouses continues to shrink, it is a great time to look at mobile racking as an approach to store more product in your current footprint. Technology has come a long way, as mobile racking is now available in coolers and freezers, which are typically the most expensive type of storage. Although there are different storage mediums that will store product more densely, like deep lane storage and pallet flow, none of them will give you the flexibility of access to every pick face, which is vital in today’s push toward e-commerce and the ever increasing number of SKU’s you need to store.

In manual and powered styles, mobile racking is a great alternative and a complement to the various storage mediums used by warehouses and manufacturing plants. So before you put on a large, costly addition to handle more manufacturing, or to get those pallets that are stored off-site back under your control and your roof, consider mobile racking. Abel Womack can help. It’s not a static world anymore, why should all of your pallet storage be?

About the Author

Mike Petinge is the President of Abel Womack, Inc. and has been with the company for more than 25 years.